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Editorial

Inspired teachers inspired students

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Friday April 19, 2013 5:15 AM

Great teachers don’t just pound knowledge into a student’s head; they care, inspire and change
lives. They teach with such passion that, even decades later, their words and lessons remain
vivid.

This is obvious from memories shared in the current edition of the
Ohio State Alumni Magazine, which is inviting readers to write about their favorite
professors.

The responses so far are terrific. Some are funny, others nostalgic. These faculty members left
a lasting impression on bright young people — now leaders in their communities and the nation.

Mary Fischietto, class of 2001, is one of them. Political science Professor Herb Asher took the
freshman under his wing and encouraged her to consider a life in public service.

Today, Fischietto works at the White House Office of Management and Budget.

Beth Browning Robinson, class of ’92, remembered Joseph Kruzel, a former OSU political-science
professor who became deputy assistant secretary of defense for European and NATO affairs. Kruzel
died in a 1995 accident in the Balkans on his way to peace talks in Sarajevo. Before teaching at
OSU from 1983 to 1993, he’d served as an intelligence officer in the Pentagon and in Vietnam, a
U.S. negotiator for the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks and an adviser to President Jimmy Carter’s
secretary of defense .

“I could listen to his stories for hours,” recalls Robinson, of Canal Winchester. That kind of
learning can’t be found in books.

Drake writes: “One day, Joy Reilly had finished a section on the willing suspension of disbelief
when we suddenly noticed police officers blocking all the exits from the room.”

An officer walked down the aisle and arrested a boy in the class — “or so we thought,” Drake
said. After continuing her lecture, Reilly, an associate professor, “stopped abruptly and motioned
offstage. The student and police officers walked onto the stage.

“You all believed that arrest was real,” she told the class. “That is the willing suspension of
disbelief.”

Tim Zimmerman , class of ’79 and doctor of dentistry ’83, said his most impressive teacher was
Paul A. Colinvaux, professor of ecology. “I casually signed up for his introductory course to get
three credits during my senior year. For the next 10 weeks, I was treated to the best lectures of
my Ohio State experience.” Such was Colinvaux’s impact that some 30 years later, Zimmerman, now in
Minnesota, looked up his old professor online, found he’d written several books and read every one
of them.

Columbus resident Mark A. Williams returned for his masters of social work degree after
suffering a traumatic brain injury. He was nervous about a heavy reading load in a course taught by
Sarah Fields, associate professor of sport and exercise sciences. “But I did it,” said Williams,
who writes of the “joy and thrill” of having a teacher who challenged students to think.

These stories underscore the extraordinary talent and experience that is brought to this
community by the university, and they should remind people to thank the teachers who have affected
them so profoundly.